Police car that crashed and injured members of public was travelling at over 70mph in 30mph zone

A policeman who crashed into two cars after driving through red lights while
in pursuit of a driver not wearing a seatbelt was travelling at speeds of up
to 73mph in a 30mph zone, a court heard.

The police car was pursuing a car after the driver was seen without a seatbeltPhoto: Alamy

12:53PM BST 04 Jun 2013

Pc Daniel Aimson, 31, who was based at Swinton Police Station and had received advanced driving training for his role as a traffic officer, appeared at Preston Crown Court for a trial after pleading not guilty to dangerous driving.

The crash left the driver and passenger of a Ford Ka with injuries including a broken collar bone, damaged disc and a punctured bowel, the court heard.

On November 27, 2011, Pc Aimson noticed a driver was not wearing a seatbelt as he started his patrol driving along Spinning Jenny Way in Leigh and followed him in the direction of its junction with Lord Street South and Chapel Street.

He pursued him through the lights, which had turned red, hitting the Ford Ka, which span and collided with a Citroen C3. Pc Aimson's patrol car then collided with another Ford Ka coming in the opposite direction, prosecution counsel Joe Boyd told the jury.

The patrol car's internal data recorder showed his emergency lights were on but the siren was off, that Pc Aimson reached speeds of 73mph in a 30mph zone and that he started to brake too late to prevent the crash, Mr Boyd said.

He added: "It may well be that he forgot about the junction. In any event his driving was fraught with danger. His rationalisation that other drivers could see him was wishful thinking.

"Mr Aimson – not deliberately, he is not a boy racer racing his mates – was trying to stop the red car, but that does not prevent him from obeying the law of the land. This was a very dangerous manoeuvre which caused significant injuries."

In interview, Pc Aimson said he believed the drivers at the junction had seen him coming.

But Christine Ragab, who was driving the first Ford Ka that was hit, told the court: "When the lights went to green I pulled out and looked to the right and saw some lights blinding me. And that was it."

She said she remembered waking up and Pc Aimson holding her hand. She and her passenger, Stephen Higson, had to be cut from the vehicle.

Mr Higson, who is now unable to work as a window cleaner, was admitted to hospital with a ruptured bowel and broken collar bone, while Mrs Ragab suffered cuts, bruises, muscle damage to her leg and a damage to a disc in her back.

John Monaghan, who was walking along Spinning Jenny Way at the time of the accident, said he saw the red car speed past and then looked around to see the police car, before hearing the crash behind him.

In a statement read out by defence counsel Mark Aldred, Mr Monaghan said he didn't think the police car stood a chance of catching the red car.